Ben04uk Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Does anyone know if there were any Siphon G's in BR Crimson or possibly even brown/bauxite livery by the mid 1970's or were all the ones still in traffic repainted into BR Blue by this date? The mostly b/w photographs I have make it difficult to tell although Paul Bartlett's website suggest they probably were all in BR Blue by this date. Or were they like the SR CCT's and Van B and Van C and the amount of grime on them made it impossible to tell what livery there were in? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted January 8, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 8, 2012 Does anyone know if there were any Siphon G's in BR Crimson or possibly even brown/bauxite livery by the mid 1970's or were all the ones still in traffic repainted into BR Blue by this date? The mostly b/w photographs I have make it difficult to tell although Paul Bartlett's website suggest they probably were all in BR Blue by this date. Or were they like the SR CCT's and Van B and Van C and the amount of grime on them made it impossible to tell what livery there were in? All which I saw from late 1974 onwards were in blue. I wouldn't guarantee that I saw all of them still surviving at that date but in view of where I was then based I should think that I saw most of those that still remained in revenue earning traffic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 They (largely) seemed to remain relatively clean; I can't think that I saw a crimson or maroon one after 1971. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom J Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 A bit of searching on this has come to nothing so I may have answered my question, but how far north did a Blue Siphon make it during the 70s? I know Southern vehicles made it to the top of Scotland, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a picture of a Siphon... I might hope to be proved wrong though! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 A bit of searching on this has come to nothing so I may have answered my question, but how far north did a Blue Siphon make it during the 70s? I know Southern vehicles made it to the top of Scotland, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a picture of a Siphon... I might hope to be proved wrong though! My recollection is that, by the 1970s, most examples were in Newspaper Train use on the WR, and so stuck to regular Diagrams. There were a few in a general pool, but I'm not sure how far they might have wandered- the ENPARTS ones got to Derby, at least. In earlier times, there was a Diagrammed working for a Siphon between Nottingham and Neyland for tobacco traffic- I think this died out by the late 1950s, if not earlier. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom J Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Certainly the only pictures I can find other than ENPARTS use (and these are all in England) seem to be on the WR... What a shame! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Certainly the only pictures I can find other than ENPARTS use (and these are all in England) seem to be on the WR... What a shame! I wouldn't worry too much; they almost certainly did wander, it's just nobody photographed them because they weren't locos.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZiderHead Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 ok this may be a stupid question, but why would a milk van be built with corridor connections? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium coronach Posted September 9, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 9, 2013 (edited) very occasionally I saw one at York in the 1970s. A van train containing BR 'collection and delivery' parcels traffic would arrive in platform 16 on Saturday mornings, usually hauled by a class 31. The vans would be emptied before being sorted in the sidings at the rear of the station. Apart from the odd syphon and many BR and ex LMS and SR vans, I saw the last few gresley and thompson bogie vans and even a few LMS Stanier and Thompson 6-wheelers. Needless to say, they were all well weathered in Railmatch 'frame dirt' LOL Edited September 9, 2013 by coronach 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 ok this may be a stupid question, but why would a milk van be built with corridor connections? No idea, but they built other Siphons with end doors. I suspect the logic was that, even when the vehicles were being built, churn traffic was in decline; thus the corridor connections and the internal fold-down shelves. The latter served such purposes as carrying stretchers with wounded servicemen during WW2, trays of strawberries from Cheddar and narcissi from Penzance, and finally acting as sorting tables for newspapers. In the first and last of these uses, the corridor connections would have been invaluable to allow staff to pass along the train. There was one wartime livery I rather liked- the one painted white with 'PENICILLIN' on the side in large letters.. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 I wouldn't worry too much; they almost certainly did wander, it's just nobody photographed them because they weren't locos.. They definitely did wander, too. My first interest straying from locos and bog-carts, before I embraced passenger coaches, was NPCCS. Every day the train to/ from school passed Curzon Street parcels depot, and the usually fairly well turned-out Syphons were some of the most eagerly sought vehicles. They turned up regularly, both body styles, although the ones with the sliding shutters to cover the lower bodyside louvres seemed to be more common. They also made it to the two sidings Aston-side of Duddeston, usually electric loco holding sidings, but frequently used as cripple roads or admission/ despatch roads for the Carriage and Wagon shops. As others have said, the LMS and SR types were all common bedfellows at this time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhall Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 ok this may be a stupid question, but why would a milk van be built with corridor connections? the GWR's brown vehicles were considered coaching stock, not goods stock. J Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben04uk Posted September 9, 2013 Author Share Posted September 9, 2013 David Larkin photographed a Siphon G no. W1321W at Carlisle in Spring 1975 so presumably this got to / or came from Scotland. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerces Fobe2 Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 I saw them most nights at Slough Station in the mid 1970's and many of then looked quite well kept in BR blue Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZiderHead Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 No idea, but they built other Siphons with end doors. I suspect the logic was that, even when the vehicles were being built, churn traffic was in decline; thus the corridor connections and the internal fold-down shelves. The latter served such purposes as carrying stretchers with wounded servicemen during WW2, trays of strawberries from Cheddar and narcissi from Penzance, and finally acting as sorting tables for newspapers. In the first and last of these uses, the corridor connections would have been invaluable to allow staff to pass along the train. There was one wartime livery I rather liked- the one painted white with 'PENICILLIN' on the side in large letters.. Thanks, that does make some sense. Cant have been much fun travelling/working in them in the winter though! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Thanks, that does make some sense. Cant have been much fun travelling/working in them in the winter though! They had steam heating, and later ETH- no worse than a 4-VEP, probably. When I was a student in Bristol in 1973, my then-landlady's son worked on the 'Papers', and didn't seem too stressed by conditions. A nice little number; up to London on the cushions, then a few hours frantic activity before getting back to Bristol by about 04:00. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold rodent279 Posted November 10, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 10, 2021 Reviving an old thread, were any Siphons ever in bauxite livery? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmrspaul Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 21 minutes ago, rodent279 said: Reviving an old thread, were any Siphons ever in bauxite livery? Why would they be freight stock red they are passenger vehicles? Certainly they were in Crimson and maroon before blue. Paul 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 And, topping-up on the reminiscences above: I used to see them on the southern, central and eastern divisions in the early to mid 1970s, in a train that ran down mid evening calling at Croydon and Redhill, which I think went on to Dover via Tonbridge, although I’m not totally sure about the last bit, and on another train that came Up through Tonbridge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mol_PMB Posted November 10, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 10, 2021 I think some of the ENPARTS ones were departmental olive green. Which might raise a faint possibility of one previously in gulf red? But unlikely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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